A Battle of Cultures
by Talhiri
Summary: The reasons as to why Mandalore declared war on the Republic didn't rise because of a fued clan or the need to test themselves. No, it started because one Jedi and her daughter...
1. Prologue

**-- Prologue --**

_

* * *

Faelyn struggled against her captor's arms as the two hulking guards dragged her up to the podium. She tried to twist out of their arms but to no avail could she do anything. _

_A hand slapped her on the face making her head ring and her vision blacken as she dropped to the floor, "stop your struggling, useless slave!" _

_A voice in Mandalorian hissed in her ears as she lay crumpled in a moaning heap on the ground. Dimly she was aware of her hand where being chained to the podium, the chains being drawn tight as they clinked against the ground._

_She looked up to see the sword of her executor staring at her. Faelyn did not close her eyes as the Mandalorian raised his blade high over his head, to bring it down on her, but it never came…_

* * *

"…Faelyn! Faelyn, wake up! It's only a dream!" Her husband's frantic cries woke Faelyn from her sweat drenched nightmare as she shuddered and sobbed against his chest. 

"Faelyn shush, you're going to be alright now." He smoothed back her hair and looked deeply into her face, his eyes holding concern as she let tears fall down her face.

"I… I… saw you…" Faelyn whispered, thinking about to her nightmare, more as though it had been a vision… "You are going to lead your troops to victory and the galaxy will remember your name, as your troops cheer for you and follow you with question…"

He smiled, "there is that so bad, my dear? When I win the war, you will rule by my side, love…"

Faelyn did not have the heart to tell him what was going to happen to her. She was going to die, that Faelyn knew for sure… and there was Revan as well.

Revan would never know her father now, for Faelyn and her husband would have to leave, become apart.

"What about, Revan, love?" Faelyn asked, pulling on her silk robe as she walked over to revan's crib and picked the not-sleeping baby from the crib.

His face hardened in the moonlight, "she may see my face now, but after I leave, she will never see my face again."

"Love, that is hardly…" Faelyn's protest was broken off by her husband's angry voice.

"If it was known I had a daughter and wife, there'd be attempts on your life and Revan! If they found you, you would die horribly and then they would either use Revan as a slave or turn her into something else not my daughter!"

"She's my daughter as much as she is yours!" Faelyn hissed; staring at the man she had grown to love, with hatred. "She is my daughter and she will become a great Jedi one day!"

"And she is my daughter and a mandalorian child too! She will become the ruler of Mandalorians one day, Faelyn, and I must teach her my ways."

"While I live, you will not take Revan away from me, mandalorian swine!"

Power crackled from the tips of Faelyn's fingers as he advanced towards her, his eyes shining with the prospect of battle.

Revan's wailing cry broke the tension as Faelyn let go of the Force, and started to comfort their daughter quickly.

He sighed as he looked out their window and then turned to his wife and daughter; "Faelyn, go back to Deralia and take her with you… If you teach her all she will need to know and more, then it will be best this way…"

"Teran, are you sure, you will be able to live without seeing our daughter again? Or me for that matter?" Faelyn's voice was a whisper as she looked into his eyes.

"No, I will not… I'll come and visit as much as I can, but I can leave these for her…"

He placed a small holo-player in Revan's tiny hands, causing her to giggle delightedly and he smiled as she tried to put it immediately in her mouth; Teran took it back, allowing Revan to grab hold of his finger instead.

"I'll go to back to Deralia, love… and Revan will learn more than she could ever dream of…"

Tears brimmed in her eyes as Faelyn smiled sadly at her daughter, aware of her presence in the Force already, a bright and brilliant flare that pulsed with power untold in limits.

There was a sudden crash echoing outside of their apartment and the voices and feet running down the halls made Teran and Faelyn jump apart.

* * *

"…Mandalore! Sith have invaded us…!" Maria rushed in, dragging her little brother Canderous behind her as she stood in full battle armour looking fearfully at Canderous and Faelyn. 

"They're after Revan and Faelyn!" She said quickly, and Canderous grabbed onto his sister as she shot the door controls.

"I'm scared!" Canderous wailed as Revan started to cry in Faelyn's arms, the disruptions to the Force around them, upsetting her.

"Make her silent, Faelyn, even if you have to suffocate her!" Teran hissed as Maria hustled Canderous over to Faelyn's side.

"Teran!" Faelyn admonished, her anger flaring at the thought of harming her daughter as he grabbed his weapons and began to belt them on.

"Stay with Lady Faelyn and do exactly as she says, Canderous…" Maria hissed in her brother's terrified face, tears streaming down his face.

"No! I don't want to lose you too, Ria'!" Canderous screamed and grabbed Maria around the neck as she struggled to stand. Teran was busy buckling his armour on, so he did not try to correct the child, perhaps Canderous would grow up to be tougher after this anyways.

"Shush…" Faelyn stroked the top of Canderous' head and when he looked up at her, she smiled at the young boy. "It'd be okay, Canderous, Maria and Teran are going to go and protect us from the Sith… we'll be fine."

Canderous stopped crying at the thought of this and Maria flashed a grateful look at Faelyn as she hugged her brother for the last time. All the adults knew they'd never see each other again more than likely, that Maria and Teran would mostly die in the attack rather than live through it by no fault of their own.

"Goodbye Canderous Ordo… Make me proud, little brother…" Maria whispered as she cuffed him over the ear lightly, and placed her huge rifle in the boy's hand.

She stood and raced out of the room, Teran close on her heels as the door that was secreted fried shut behind them. Faelyn activated her lightsaber and placed Revan in the cortosis weave armour protected baby vest carrier she had designed with Maria.

"What's going to happen to us?" Canderous asked Faelyn in the mandalorian language, his words fast and clipped in his excietment.

Faelyn looked down at the little boy, only six years old holding his sister's family gun of the Ordo clan. "I don't know Canderous, I don't know…"

No sooner than had those precious words left, her mouth, an explosion shook the entire building.

* * *

"Nothing like a battle to keep you young on your feet, Sir." Maria joked quietly as she racked her rifle and kicked the last tripmine in place, her swords catching the light as he looked over at her. 

"It's all right to be scared, Maria," Mandalore nodded to the young women, "I am scared to, scared for Revan... for Faelyn... for me... and you. This is all the family I have left; I don't want to lose it anymore than you do."

Maria nodded as the first shouts of blaster fire and swords echoed around them, her hands still shaking as she lowered the helmet over her face. Mandalore signaled everyone to jump at his mark and they ran, over the barrier, screaming and hollering to scare the living day lights out of the enemy. It worked.

Teran grinned as the rush of battle flowed through him and he gutted a man on his virbo sword and another on his dagger. But he did not see the man who he thought dead from the dagger thrust pull his sword up to stab between the armour from where he lay on the ground.

Maria did and she had no way to act execpt only one. "Teran!" Maria screamed out Mandalore's name and dived through the air, throwing herself in front of Teran as the blade cleaved into her chest and not his.

An explosion rocked the area around Teran and Maria, throwing the wounded young woman away from him and towards Faelyn and Teran's home.

* * *

_She must have fainted because when she opened her eyes, Faelyn was staring down into hers, blood running down her face as she spoke to Maria, though the young woman couldn't hear a word she was saying. Faelyn helped Maria up and the two of them limped to the shuttle, not aware of anything else but one thing... survival._

* * *

Ten days later, Teran was scrabbling through the rubble on his hands and knees with his trusted followers, searching for his wife, Revan, and Canderous. Maria had fallen in battle somewhere, lying among the dead and rubble probably, having taken a sword through her gut for Teran and now, Teran had promised himself this, when Canderous was found, he would be trained as a proper Mandalore would be trained and groomed for the task. 

"Sir…!" The clipped voice of Casio called over from a little miniature mountain pile of rubble, "we've found the boy!"

Teran raced over and saw that it was indeed Canderous, his sister's repeating blaster of Clan Ordo clutched in his hands.

"The boy was protecting it with his live, Mandalore…"

"Get him out of there and fixed up, I want him ready for training in three days."

Teran walked away and stared up at the sky, anger on his face, flashing as the storm grew fierce.

"So they would take them away from me…" His fists shook with unsurprised anger and Teran gritted his teeth against the anguish he felt.

No, Teran thought, not here, not ever… now was not the time to grieve. There would be no grieving for him, only war. He turned to the waiting troops behind him and spoke through his armoured mask, "gather what supplies are salvageable from the rubble. Tomorrow we prepare for war! The Republic will fall before us!"

"…Mandalore! …Mandalore!"

As the men and women raised their weapons and fists, shouting Teran's title, his birthright and name, he grinned in the mask, allowing one tear slide down his face.

"You were right, Faelyn," he whispered, "my troops _will _follow me and the galaxy will remember my name."

* * *

The woman staggered out of her tiny shuttle, her robes tattered around her, clutching a baby to her chest, her lightsaber trailing on the ground, cutting deep gouges. 

Her companion was not in much better shape, only able to crawl out of the door before she sprawled onto the ground her legs still tangled in the shuttle's door.

"I… I… I'm… sorry, Mi'lady…" Maria wheezed as she glazed at Faelyn collapsed on the ground, Revan coushined in the baby carrier, her blue-green eyes wide open and staring at Maria with curiosity. "I fai… failed you, for… forgive me…" Maria's eyes closed as a group of men and women gathered around the two fallen woman.

"Take them to the medical center, and bring back a team to retrieve the supplies." An old woman spoke sharply, the others jumping to her orders, as she turned to a young man. "Coran, go and fetch my young grandson, Jolee. He and his friend will be needed I think…" and Saraina inclined her head, "to heal their injuries."

The gathered crowd set to work, clearing the ruins away and taking anything salavage while Faelyn and Maria were lifted onto med-beds and taken away from the crash-site.

* * *

Sariana looked down at the baby in her arms, as Revan looked back at the old woman. "You're nothing but trouble, little one." Sariana said, half-joking as Revan giggled back, a smile on her face.

Sariana smiled back, happy that at least in the time of the gathering darkness some happiness and innocence could be found.

"One day, you'll rule us all with that pretty smile of yours," Sariana clucked her tongue as the baby yawned and closed her eyes.

The old woman didn't know then, how true her words would become one day.

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	2. The Challenge

**Much thanks to ****Master Lavina for Reviewing!  
****

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**-- Chapter 1: The Challenge --**

* * *

"Ah, Revan… So the mastermind of your battalions and the Republic's savour has finally accepted my call." 

The tall figure clad in the mandalorian armour, the finest that could be made, leaned closer to the viewscreen. "To what honour do I owe this fine pleasure?"

Snickers in the background could be heard from Mandalore's ship as the short woman stood with her arms crossed behind her, clasped as she regarded the man called who called himself Mandalore, coldly.

She was Revan…

None knew whether she was man or woman… none except her closest friends; the original Jedi she had brought with her, and her ship's crew, aboard the Cliché.

…The Jedi Order, none but those who could remember her from before she and Malak had left.

Malak and Revan had left the known reaches of space, on their secret quest after she had been appointed Master Jedi in a secret council.

To all outwards appearances, she was still a Jedi Knight, the same with Malak …but really she was his Master now and he was her pupil. They had left to find the Star Forge and the Star Maps, after she had explored the Ancient Ruins on Dantooine.

And then none had recognized her when she and Malak had returned. Of course though, her robes of black and her red on black mask had helped that with her voice altered and her new demeanour, the Force lived around her, lived in her.

She had become the living Force and she was going to save the galaxy, even if she had to destroy it and bring it back alive and struggling from the ashes of war…

Revan was going to save the Republic and destroy it, to save the entire galaxy and she was going to be marked as a betrayer…

* * *

She could not see into Mandalore's mask, his mask was his face as was hers now. 

But, and Revan smiled impishly, she could sense his aura in the Force, and Mandalore was growing impatient and gnashing his teeth no doubt.

Revan walked slowly forward with her alluring grace and tilted her head in acknowledgement to the viewscreen as she looked into the face of a killer… the face of many deaths and hate.

"A child… a child is dead because of you…" Revan's voice was cold and hard as she spoke ands she did not know why she had said that, until a caress of the Force touched her mind, alone.

She allowed a small smile to flash across her face as she continued on, encouraged by the Force's caress of all the Jedi passed beyond the living world and into the world of spiritual living.

"You've slaughtered many across the galaxy and not just the children… woman, men, boys and girls of all species."

Revan unclasped her hands and the original Jedi activated their lightsabers, blue, green, viridian, violet, silver, topaz, orange, and finally Revan lit her three lightsabers – blue, red, and black…

"It's time justice was measured against your soul and actions." Revan's voice was a snarl as she glared at the familiar figure that haunted her dreams so much now.

"Against me…?" Mandlore shook with unbridled laughter. "You," Mandalore pointed a finger at Revan, "you think you'll be able to bring me to justice?"

Revan closed her eyes inside the refuge of her mask and focused all her thoughts on the ancient teachings, she had learned from Master Kreia, every painful step of the way.

She reached out into the Force and called upon it to take her, too use her as she had used it. The Force accepted her offering and Revan blazed as a pure pillar of light in the Force, black and white mixing with each other, her color turning grey in the center of it.

_

* * *

_

There was no dark side…

_There was no light side… _

_There was only Revan and the Force all around her…_

* * *

People formed around Mandalore's bridge, slowly solidifying and growing, some tall and some of them short. Babies, children, woman and men, old and young... They were all the people dead from Mandalore's crusade of bloody murdering and conquering across the galaxy.

"What's happening?" Mandalore swore in mandalorian, as people, appeared out of nowhere on the bridge of the Sacrifice, a Jedi Master called Dorrins, a man Beri who Mandalore had gutted himself, Sara Yun, Pareve, civilians, ordinary people and more…

This was not what unnerved Mandalore… a woman appeared close to him and staggered forward, her stomach gutted, organs dripping out as she clasped one hand to them, reaching a hand out to Mandalore and he unwittingly caught her as she fell.

_

* * *

_

She was a Jedi…

_She was beautiful…_

_She was short…_

_She had died horribly…_

_She was dead… _

_She was Revan's mother…_

_Her name was Faelyn…_

_She was Mandalore's wife…_

_Teran recognized her…_

* * *

"Faelyn…? Is that really you? What has she done to you?" Mandalore whispered to the woman who looked up at him and moved her lips, as she faded away.

* * *

_"You left me and our daughter to kill… She doesn't know you… you will die by her hand, Teran… by her hand…"_

* * *

"By my daughter's hand…?" Mandalore looked at Revan and suddenly he knew who was behind the mask. 

His little princess, he had promised he would return and give the galaxy to her one day… Revan was his little princess and she hated him now, he had killed her mother and so many others…

* * *

"Revan!" Malak's voice hissed behind her, low enough so it would not be heard over the viewscreen. "Enough, you've got to stop this, or you'll collapse!"

"I will not collapse until I have made my point…" Revan's voice spoke in his mind, though it was oddly echoed by many voices at once.

Revan moved forward, slowly showing a gracefulness, Malak and their friends knew she could barely hold up at the minute as she spoke to Mandalore.

"Mandalore, I give you the change to honour yourself such as one was once given to Ulic Qel-Droma from the Mandalore of his time. Meet me in battle of leaders of our armies."

She paused and stared intently at Mandalore; "should I win, you and all your warriors, everything Mandalorian will belong to me."

Mandalore was silent for a minute, "and if I win… Revan, then what will you do, beg for life?"

Revan shook her head, "the war goes on without me – our fight is too the death…"

* * *

Silence reigned on both bridges, and then Mandalore nodded appreciatively.

"Yes, my lady Revan…" Mandlore grinned, "should I fear anymore summons from you?" He laughed harshly and grinned at his long lost daughter weirdly.

Revan merely laughed in reply and arched an eyebrow at Mandalore's sudden eagerness and interest in her, all the more.

Mandalore eyed his daughter, "anything goes then, and who's your second, for you shall dearly need one."

Revan frowned as she thought; who could she call upon to depend? Definitely she could call and depend on most of her friends; Malak was one of the most prominent fighters, but… Alana could help her from above…

Revan smiled coldly, and spoke out loud in, a firm voice. "Malak Xarro shall second me;" Revan ignored the gasps from behind her as she spoke, meeting Mandalore's challenge with hesitation.

Mandalore laughed as he watched Revan gestureMalak forth, his blue lightsaber glowing in his hands. His face was stony and there was no emotion that betrayed his feelings

"And who will second your second? That frail thing couldn't win a fight against any of our untrained recruits!"

"Malak Xarro will second me, if it would come to that, but I'd be much more worried for your life and the life of your second, than mine or Malak's life." Revan sneered at Mandalore who named his brother Voss, as his second.

"Two days time from now, we meet and fight on Deralia…"

Revan decreed and with a thought turned the comlink off. As soon as the link had faded, she collapsed to the deck in a faint.

* * *

"Revan!" 

No one's voices where louder than Alana, Malak, and Arren Kae as they dived to her aid.

Alana Song and Arren Kae closed their eyes as one, reaching into the Force to heal Revan and where shocked by what they saw.

"No, Revan… didn't…" Alana's voice was a stutter as she tried to focus on healing her friend and keep from blurting out the secret Revan had concealed for so long.

"Focus Alana… must focus or we will lose…" Arren Kae's voice was strained, hiding amusement and annoyance, though all of her concern was evident as the two women struggled to help Revan in a moment of needed aid.

None of them would sleep for nights to come.

* * *

This is the second redraft of this chapter, I'll see how it goes.

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	3. Warring

**-- Chapter 3: Warring --**

* * *

"_Where…?"_

_There where shapes all around her as Maria struggled to sit up but her arms wouldn't obey her body's command._

"_Shush… she is waking!" Someone said and then spoke to her, or at least the voice sounded the same._

"_It is okay, child. You are safe on Deralia now and no one hunts you or at least they will not find you and your companions."_

_This time Maria was able to sit up, "no." She gasped, "we'll always be hunted… never be safe… not from them, not them."_

_The old woman stroked Maria's hand gently, trying to calm the young woman. "Who is your companion and who is the mother of the baby girl?"_

_Maria hesitated and looked at the old woman, thinking on what to say. To announce that she was Mandalorian would be just as like committing suicide, though and for some reason Maria couldn't say, she 'felt' that she could trust this woman._

…_Too a degree…_

"_I'm Maria and my 'friend' is called Faelyn." Maria paused, thinking how strange that she was calling the Lady Faelyn a friend as if she was some common person and not Mandalore's wife._

_Maria took a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding and let it loose, "the baby is called Revan. We where fleeing the Mandalorians when they found us and tried to take us by force."_

_The old woman nodded, though her eyes narrowed. "An interesting story that would fool most people…" She whispered in Maria's ear in mandalorian._

_At this moment Faelyn choice to walk into the small room and scowled at the old woman. "Grashei, leave Maria alone! She has done nothing but help since we had to leave my husband and her child brother."_

_Grashei stood up and swiftly left the room, but not before Faelyn and Grashei stared intensely at each other, the tension in the room nearly visible._

_Maria shook her head, "what was that all about?"_

_Faelyn sighed, "Grashei is my grandmother. I wasn't able to rescue my sister and her baby son from the Mandalorians so Grashei resents me most of the time, I think. But she loves Revan, who she has only met now…"_

_Maria smirked, "what an interesting combination. Hates the mother, but loves the daughter… I think you'd find more love in a snake's pit, my lady."_

_Faelyn arched her eyebrow, "please Maria… I would rather do away with titles for the time being. I am no lady only a woman like you."_

_Maria shook her head, "if you should wish so. But you are more than 'just' a woman and you are much more than I shall ever become, Faelyn."_

_There was a pause as the two women stared at each other, each accepting the truth, that what Maria had said was near truth._

_Faelyn started to tend to Maria and placed the young woman into a Force trance to help her heal faster. Faelyn looked down into Revan's curious face as she left the tent thoughtfully._

_She was so much like her father, but her features echoed Faelyn's so much more. But Revan's eyes were the most striking contrast to her pale skin. Bright blue, and green mixed into them, they where a rare color._

_Faelyn smiled sadly as she looked up into the horizon. She hoped that somewhere Teran was looking up into the sky, alive and unhurt. _

"_One day, Revan… we will find your father again…" Faelyn whispered to her daughter as the night grew darker. "In the future to come, my dearest…"_

* * *

"_In the future to come, my dearest…"_

Revan's eyes opened wide as she gasped suddenly and instantly Alana who had fallen asleep holding her friend's hand shot up, startled by the flare in the Force.

"Revan! Oh thank the Force, you're awake!" Alana whirled around in a circle before she remembered where the door was and rushed out, shouting down the hall as she ran towards her friends.

"Arren, Malak… she's awake!"

Arren caught the distraught girl as she collided into the older woman and clasped her shoulders. "Alana, calm down. Now repeat to me what you where saying in a calm manner."

Alana nodded breathlessly, "it's Revan… she's awake now."

Malak who had been standing silently behind Arren Kae suddenly looked up with interest in his eyes. "Revan's awake?" He said and didn't wait for an answer, rushing off to his wife's side.

Arren and Alana looked at each other, Alana shook her head. "Now who's anxious, eh?" Arren sighed and rolled her eyes briefly before looking sternly at Alana. "The child, is the child well?"

Alana paused, all the earlier emotion from before gone now. Instead hesitation, uncertainty and fear shined on her face.

"I… I do not know, Arren. I know that the child lives, but… I think the fight that Revan wishes to for take will complicate matters. And I will not be joining you either."

Arren raised a silent eyebrow and looked at the girl who said nothing, her eyes said it all. "Revan has a mission for you, another mission more important than the fight." Kae sighed and shook her head, "I wish I knew what it was, but I won't press the matter."

She placed her hand on Alana's shoulder and squeezed it briefly before the two women entered Revan's room.

Malak looked up at their entrance, his face heavy and worn; "She's asleep. We didn't talk very long." His voice was hoarse and cracked, "she's going to be okay, right …Alana?"

Alana felt Kae's eyes boring into her as she struggled to answer Malak and failed. Kae stepped forward and rested her hand on the young man, "yes… Revan should heal and recover soon enough, young Xarrio. Now either you must return to your quarters and rest or sleep in the bed over there."

She pointed to the spare compartment which Malak slowly trudged off to, his eyes downcast.

Alana stared at her old master for a minute before she left the room, her robe whisking around the corner in a flash.

Kae sank down into the chair Malak had recently left and stared at Revan's sleeping face. A tear trance its way down her face as she turned away and wept for the loss that Revan had suffered from the galaxy.

"A heroine no longer you will be, after your fighting is gone and done." Kae whispered as Revan mumbled in her sleep briefly.

* * *

"_Mommy, can I go with Sarina and pick the core gems? Can I… please?"_

_Faelyn looked up at her impatient six year old daughter, her eyes shinning with the prospect of collecting core gems, that would eventually be suitable for more than just light sources and weapons._

_Faelyn clucked her tongue and stared at her daughter in an inquiring way; "have you done your homework, little one?"_

_Revan was startled for a minute and then nodded eagerly, "yup. I finished it ages ago." She waved her hand in an absentminded gesture and cross her arms again. _

"_Now may I go… pu-lease?" Revan whooped as Faelyn nodded and went racing off to grab Sarina's hand and toward they started off in the direction of the core gems cove._

_Maria melted out of the shadows and clasped Faelyn's shoulder, "are you going to tell her soon?"_

_Faelyn shook her head, "no… better that she doesn't know and has an innocent childhood to look back upon."_

_Maria snorted, "Revan's no ordinarily child, Faelyn. She can already use the Force and I'm only Force sensitive, but the kid's strong, very strong."_

_Faelyn struggled to rise and nearly fell until Maria helped her up-right. "I know, but she should not have to hear that I am slowly dying and that there's no cure for it. Those Sith Assassins weren't after her. They were after me and you."_

_The haunted look in Faelyn's eyes would never leave Maria's memory for as long as she lived._

_Revan glanced up suddenly and looked up into the sky. "Sarina, we have to go back. Something's wrong at the village."_

_Sarina looked down at the young six year old, who was wise and mature beyond her years. "Are you sure, little one?"_

_Revan nodded, "yes I am sure. My mother never cuts me off from the bond we share. She's cut me off now." _

_There where tears in Revan's eyes as she looked up at Sarina tearfully, "why would she do that, what did I do that was so bad?"_

"_You have done nothing wrong, Revan." Sarina had half pulled her sword out before she recognized Maria's voice and relaxed as the mandalorian guard appeared over the rocks and swept Revan up into a hug._

"_You'll be fine little one, everything will work out. You'll see…" Maria whispered as the first of the airships began to race overhead towards the village._

_Sarina looked at Maria who replied with her haunted eyes. It was reflected there, everything that was wrong._

_The village was under attack, the villagers where fighting for their lives, Faelyn was fighting as well. She was going to die. And the attackers where Mandalorians…_

_Sarina shivered as these images raced through her mind, due to Maria's skill with the Force. She picked up her blaster and flicked the safety switch off, "we'd best return then…"_

_Maria nodded curtly and started to move out, carrying Revan in her arms, the battle training apparent in her ready stance._

* * *

Revan shifted in her sleep and moved her head to look over at Malak who was sitting besides her, clutching her hand tightly, as tears ran down his face. 

"Hey…" Revan's voice was cracked as she tried to speak and found she had to swallow, before she speak properly again. "Its okay, Malak... Nothing's going to happen to us."

He shook his head, "no Revan. This time I can't believe you. I'm scared that something's going to happen. I won't lose you, I can't!"

Revan started to shake her head and winced at the pain it caused. "And _nothing _will happen, Malak. We love each other. Our love will keep us together always." She smiled wanly at him, "our love and our son…"

Malak was speechless as he stared at Revan "…our son?" His face broke into a craggy smile as he hugged his wife in relief, his tears turning to happiness.

* * *

Alana watched from the door as bitterness and anger threatened to overwhelm her. 

Malak was a liar, Revan had lied to her. Everything was not going to be the same again. But it was necessary as Revan would tell her.

Alana just feared how necessary it was going to become, to destroy everything.

Heroine turned villain. Alana no longer knew Revan. She wasn't sure, she wanted to know.

Such was her gift and curse from the Force.

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